


Girls and Other Dangerous Things

by hollyhomburg



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blind Character, Child Abandonment, Child Death, Dragons, F/M, Homelessness, Magical Realism, Murder, Prison, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25634671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyhomburg/pseuds/hollyhomburg
Summary: Holly Homburg has many secrets, as one of the few humans who straddles the edge between the fantasy world and the real world, holly struggles to find the difference between surviving and living. As a series of horrific murders target the underworld and holly's own mysterious past comes into question; her and her friends struggle to protect the city.mysterious murders, an ancient prophecy, gangs of half-demon children, a god come to life, a government intent on keeping its secret hidden, a Library that holds every book ever written, and at the center of it all- holly homburg. The girl with too many secrets and not enough answers.this book is supposed to be 1/3 books, but I'll likely never finish the series. so be prepared for NOTHING to be explained or wrapped up and a major cliffhanger at the end.
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue: Dead not gone

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ
> 
> I wrote this story when I was 15-17 years old, while now im 23 i figured i might as well put this story out into the world. As such- some of the ideas in it are more than a little bit outdated, and going back I'd probably write it better. there is quite a bit of death in this story- and specifically mentions of newborns getting killed. I know it's dark as fuck- but when I was 15 I was coping with my own losses and my own personal life. 
> 
> there are also implied references to rape in this story from what I remember- though I don't think i ever go into anything in any detail. it's been a while since I read through it so if you find anything that triggers you please comment it below and I'll add it to the tags.

_Past: 7 years earlier_

Her feet felt like they were burning, little sticks and rocks stabbed into them as she ran through the forest like her life depended on it. Her foot caught on an exposed root and she was tossed onto the ground. Droplets of blood- her blood scattered the earth like exposed rubies. Her brothers hand was on her pulling her roughly back up too her feet. Her legs gave out- shaking- her legs were shaking too much for her to stand.

“Holly, come on, you need to get up” Alaric whispered urgently. His voice- usually loud and easy was quiet and laced with fear. There was a deep scratch along his cheek and his blond hair was covered in black dust making him look like an old man.

She was distracted by the bombardment of sensations. Her sister had told her the outside world would be like this but she had never seen real trees before and her sisters descriptions hadn’t been _nearly_ enough. The dappled hexagonal shafts of early morning light cut across green leaves- _green_ \- so that was what green looked like.

Behind them they heard the spit of gun fire- which told them- with the increasing occurrence of the sound- that they were getting closer. The hellhounds were howling and barking with a reckless abandon. Signaling to the others of their pack that they had caught the scent of their prey. Them.

Holly’s sister, Teva, who could run the fastest and had the longest legs had paused and was urging them forward not daring to speak incase their sound gave away their location. Her face was pale and open. Blood was dripping from her hairline into her lips and her eyes darted from Holly too the woods in front of her and back again.

For a painful moment Holly wondered if they would leave her to fend for herself. But then Teva gripped her other arm and her siblings pulled her too her feet between them And They kept running.

Holly was just thinking that they would be overtaken when there was a reprieve- a thinning in the trees. Light stung her eyes as They broke out onto a cliff. Their momentum carried them, their feet slipping towards the edge of the cliff on chips of shale.

Holly peered over the side. Far below hummed a pale line of water, deep and moving fast. Shimmering like diamonds in the light.

“We can make it” Teva said, rushing over- as if to jump over the edge. Alaric’s hand fisted in the back of her shirt to stop her.

“No- it's too far we would never survive the fall” Alaric shook her slightly. “We have to stand and fight.” Teva sounded like she was choking Big tears carving pale lines on her face. Holly held onto her sisters pant leg.

Her legs were shaking as they listened to the hunters in the woods- as they crashed through the trees coming closer and closer. Alaric put his body in between them and the woods just as a dark shape emerged from within the line of trees and bound towards them at a breakneck base.

The hellhound’s fur was black and shiny like oil. Its maw was split vertically as well as sideways so that it could rip and tear into flesh in every direction.

She watched, the breath leaving her lungs as the hound jumped at Alaric- he raised his arm up with a cry to cover his face and the hound bit into it. Its maw closed with the sickening sucking crunch of teeth sinking into flesh. Alaric brought it down across the ground. Holding it there before he used his knees and slammed down on the animal before it could get up. With a sickening crunch the animal's ribs caved in, the hound winded once before alaric grabbed a fist sized rock- and slammed it against its head.

Holly sank towards it, and pried its jaws from around Alaric's arm. Its teeth-leaving penny sized holes behind.

“I’m fine,” he said. Everything was silent for a second but then the rest of the hunting party where upon them.

Seraphim. They moved almost silently. Each of them looked the same- with their pale skin, angular faces and cold colorful eyes. Eyes that shone every color of the rainbow beheld them with little remorse only glee. Here where beings who enjoyed the hunt.. Reveled in it. They wore black military uniforms and held guns with speckled barrels in their hands. She had only recently learned what guns were and now all of them were pointed straight at her and her family. She lowered her body to the ground- her survival instincts were screaming at her to make her body a smaller target.

“Now now,” said a voice- A woman's- from the center of the group. “There doesn't need to be any more violence,” Doctor Stapleton said as she stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the morning sun. Her usual attire of dark pants colorful shirt had been discarded for the same dark uniform of the seraphim.

When he saw her Alaric bared his teeth. “We’ll die before we let you take us,” he said.

Doctor Stapleton raised a perfect eyebrow. Her eyes glancing from Alaric and too the hell hound at his feet. _Was she happy?_ Holly wondered, _that he had learned how to kill them with such efficiency_?

“That wouldn't be reasonable” she said- her voice as soft as cotton “we have far too much time and money invested in you to kill you” she crossed her arms. Looking down at Alaric with a twist of her lips she said with derision “well not _all_ of you.”

Alaric lunged forward at her and with a yell and a pop he fell to the ground. Clutching his knee. Blood trickled out from in between his fingertips. “Al!” Teva cried clutching Holly against her. She started forward but then stopped herself putting holly behind her.

“Make an example of him” Doctor Stapleton commanded with a flick of her red hair. One of the soldiers trained their gun on him and with a click and a pop alaric was gone. One second his head was there- and the next it was gone. The blood and brain matter hit Holly like a wall. Teva fell to the ground making a wheezing sound. Her hands rubbed viciously at her face to get his blood off of her.

Holly felt nothing for a moment.

And then that moment ended.

She looked every drop of blood and willed herself to remember it. Her heart felt broken- the pieces suspended in a nearly wordless rage. It was like her mind had been left blank, and there was only this feeling. Of fire and energy that would not let her move from the image before her.

_Killed._ She thought. _Dead_. 

Her legs carried her slowly forward until her brother- her brother’s _body_ was at her feet. The guns trained on her- She was keenly aware of all of them She saw a drop of sweat gild down one of the Seraphim’s soldiers cheeks. She heard the beat of their hearts- and the uneven rhythm of shaking hands and clattering lungs. She felt the fire in them- a peculiar feeling, the heat they gave off with every move of a muscle.

She felt the warmth of their blood and the hum of friction when their skin rubbed against their cloths, and the pliability of the gunpowder in its bullet casing, just a second, just a slight tap and it would be ignited. It would start with A spark, than a flame, and finish with a boom that would shatter.

“Come with us Holly” Stapleton said with a smile. “If you do now we’ll even let you keep your pet.”

“You killed him,” she said. The rage inside of her was drowning the fire- no becoming the fire and heat. “You killed my brother, and my sister is not my pet.”

She thought sadness would feel cold- people were supposed to be sad when those they loved died weren't they? But all she felt was this white-hot rage- hotter than fire hotter than anything she had ever felt. She was giving off heat to- a luscious gorgeous heat. She felt the hair rise off of the back of her neck, her cloths billowed around her.

Sweat drifted down Stapleton’s forehead. “Holly- there’s no reason to get upset.” her hand was on something at her belt. Something black- it was another gun- another killing machine that had taken him away from her and would take more lives too.

Holly hated guns.

The seraphim cried out in shock as the metal machines came alive in their hands. They tossed them from their arms eager to get the white hot metal from their fingers.

“You killed him,” she said again. Teva touched her shoulder and she recoiled in shock. Her hand was red- burned. “Holly” she pleaded, but Holly didn't hear her.

She wanted to hurt them- to remove the light from their eyes. And then she raised her hands- a gesture that came unbidden. A gesture that felt right.

She breathed out and something other than air leapt from her.

Doctor stapleton turned a moment before it hit them.

Ribbons of flame leapt from her fingers in spiraling delicate tendrils of yellow, red, orange, and black. The flames were Clinging to the seraphim before they had a chance to even yell. Turning them to ashes that billowed upwards towards the sky with the rapidly expanding air.

Doctor Stapleton slipped in between the trees unscathed. Holly nudged the fire to burn the forest down so that she might never escape. The fire released itself from her anger spent. Leaving her with a hollow feeling, a cold stillness that wasn't sadness.

She fell to her knees ignoring the stones around her that were still molten- but they didn't burn her. She would have been surprised if she could feel anything at all. It was like kneeling in clay.

The fire that still burned felt hot against her cheeks. She could feel the forest- feel it as it burned- feel the green as it smoked then caught unwillingly. What was this- this power that she now felt- this unearthly humming that the living gave off. The light of the sun the warmth of her own quick beating heart.

She felt Teva’s hand on her pulling her by her smoldering cloths over the edge of the cliff and then weightlessness. The frigid water hit her like wall knocking the breath and any remnant of the fire from her lungs. Her brother’s absence weighed her down more then her soaking wet cloths. She closed her eyes tightly and hoped blindly that she would never resurface but Teva was there. Her hand grabbing at the back of her cloths and making her resurface. She coughed and spluttered spitting water from her mouth.

The current in the river was fast and they let it carry them downstream. They clung to each other and watched the cliffs for anyone that might be coming after them. They saw no one- And Holly didn’t know if it was because they were too preoccupied putting out her fire or if the fire had swallowed them all whole.

Night came quickly.

When Teva and Holly finally pulled themselves up onto the shore Holly’s skin was white and wrinkled. She into the sand her head spinning. Teva was standing. Shaking as she gathered up her wet cloths and small backpack.

“We need to go farther” she said. Teva didn't help pull her to her feet but Holly followed when the world stopped spinning around her. They settled down for the evening in a bramble so thick that prying eyes wouldn’t see their small fire.

Teva and Holly took off their clothes and laid them out to dry over thick branches above the fire, the hems and edges of them were scorched thoroughly. They ate a small supply of dried fruit, which Teva had produced from inside the backpack and a few unripe berries that holly found in the bramble. They did so without talking to each other. Teva was crying quietly, her tears rolling into her food but Holly felt utterly spent and unable to cry. When the food was gone they watched the flames together for a long time.

Holly held her hand up too the fire and tried to summon the flames even a little bit of the heat- but the sensitivity she felt to it all was gone. Teva looked up at her and almost screamed “don’t”

“Did you know I could do that?” Holly asked. Pulling her knees close to her chest. She could feel the fire as she felt her own heartbeat- burning and humming. Snapping in the light breeze.

“No.” Teva said honestly. She looked up at Holly her eyes reflected the orange of the flames, “though if it makes any difference I don’t think they did either” her hair had dried with a slight wave- and it hung around her face lank- a way that Holly wasn’t used to seeing it.

“I’m not human am I?”

“No” Teva said again, unable to hold her gaze. She turned around. “I’m going to go to sleep”

“Ok” Holly said lying on her back. Looking up through the canopy. She had never seen anything more beautiful the lush green of it and the blue dome that was the sky. She felt as if she was hanging suspended from the earth and that if she let go of the forest floor sand she would fall Onto the blanket that was the sky and through to the light beyond the pinpricks.

It turns out that the world was very very big

“Oh” Teva said. “ Happy 10th birthday” Holly shook her head.

“When I asked for freedom I didn't think it would be like this. It doesn't feel like my birthday” she felt like she was choking on her words as hot fat tears rolled down her face “it doesn't feel good- I never wanted him too-”

“-I know” she said her voice breaking. “Get some sleep- we’ll continue on foot tomorrow” 


	2. Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> holly gets out, just barely. and she dosent care where she ends up as long as she can see the sky again.

_PRESENT_

The concrete wall was hard and cold. Her white shirt and too large pants did little to shield her from the cold, but it was better that than it would be in a few months. But the cold distracted her from the noises, the clamor of hundreds of bodies jammed into a small space. The cells were overflowing with beings, some half-human and some not human at all. It had made holly go mad her first few weeks here. The cold helped distract her from it all.

Holly knew she would rather freeze than sweat in here.

It must have been near winter now or maybe it was early spring? Her knowledge of the date was vague (the last time she had had the balls to ask one of the holy guards for the date she had received several blows from their batons the sentence, “it’s the day you keep your fucking mouth shut” After that she hadn’t felt comfortable asking). The guards didn’t talk to them unless it was to put them in their place- and she didn’t talk to the other prisoners because they only leered at her. It had been a little relief to hear one of them talk.

The holy guard was the army of seraphim that patrolled cities, the borders of magical settlements (to make sure nothing got out that shouldn’t), her prison, and the countless others like it. There were few warriors more brutal and more apt at killing than them- or their species. But it was also their organization and their unity that enabled them to rule- to make the laws that put people like Herself in here. The rule breakers, the people that had done one thing: Told the truth.

For seraphim there was only one law: keep it all secret from the humans.

It had been maybe a few months since the last appeal for her case, of which there had been three. Three was customary for humans, one for non-humans, and no appeals for hybrids. Hybrids were often murdered on the spot- few were imprisoned- but it didn’t seem like few in here. no- here, human demon hybrids where as abundant as flies.

No one had been in contact with her about her sentence. Her papers were probably sitting on a table somewhere collecting dust. She wondered if they had forgotten about her completely. The idea that they might leave her here to rot among the others made her stomach churn- because it would probably happen and she would most definitely die in here. She didn't know what she would do if she never got to see the sky again.

The inmates never got outside time- mostly because the prison itself was underground. There was a small gym. Where 1/24th of the inmates went every hour. And it was nice- sometimes she ran a bit which was more she could do in her 6 foot by 6 foot cell- but she tried to keep to herself. Talking to the other hybrids usually resulted in someone trying to kill her, suck her blood, or feed off of her soul. She was glad that they had had the foresight to give her her own cell.

Humans where rare here.

She entertained herself as best she could in the relative darkness of her cell (the light in the ceiling had never worked) by tapping out Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture on her leg, her fingers played the imaginary piano, cannon, flute, and violin all at once. The lulling hymns relaxing her mind. Down a few rows in the cellblock, something only half human shrieked- a rough animalistic shriek- and then gargled, as if blood was filling its lungs. Her fingers faltered as she felt its heat dim then dissipate.

The shriek was followed by the immediate yell of a guard and thunder of heavy boots; Holly walked to the edge of her cell and tilted her head towards the noise. Other faces, both young and old, pressed between the bars.

Their faces were varied- some with elongated snouts, too many eyes, too few features, or different skin colors. Some retreated, the iron of the bars too toxic for them to touch or bear a close distance. The cell diagonal from her’s was enveloped in a flailing mass of dark uniforms as long clawed hands roiled inside of the cell, a second deeper growl echoed and then was cut off and they all went still.

Blood seeped under the door and holly watched as a crimson puddle traveled sluggishly around the tiles following the square lines. The growls and shrieks grew louder, across from her the other prisoners reached out their hands, webbed, clawed, and morphed beyond human recognition grabbed at the blood where it pooled feverishly.

Holly was thankful then as she often was that being human- or having any appearance of humanity in here was special enough to warrant at single cell, small as it was, it was still better than being a human shoved into a closed space with semi-starving hybrids. She especially feared the demon human hybrids- who, more often than not, where in here for killing and eating something (or someone) they shouldn’t have.

Humans were rare in the prison, only because there were so few of them who knew of the other world- the world of angels and demons and everything inbetween. There were even fewer who knew enough about their laws to break them. Holly was a special case. Which was why she had been there so long- because there was little to no legislation regarding humans who broke their laws- or even knew about the other world.

Holly heard someone calling for the cleaning crew and extricated herself from the bars. She sat back down on her small cot. The wall was still cold against her back as she resumed her repetition of songs. And tried to ignore the rancorous sound of the blood hungry inmates.

The smell of the antiseptic stung even her nose as it was poured over the floors. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for those with a stronger sense of smell- for the werewolves and other shape shifters.

The cleaning crew finished, the corpses were brought out of the cell and moved onto the crematorium. Two new inmates would be added within the next few hours. The same thing would again tomorrow- and the day after that. It had been this way since she had gotten there, every day another blood letting- another inmate going crazy with hunger. The first day she had vomited onto the floor and the cleaning crew had had to come into her cell.

There had never been a day in here that someone hadn't died- or been murdered by an inmate or guard- but the most she had seen die in a single day was upwards of 15. Sometimes she wondered if that was how she would go- or if the guards would take a liking to her because of how she looked and then she would be worse than dead But for now she was too young too scrawny for their tastes.

For the first time since she had gotten to prison, for the first time in nearly a year and a half all noise ceased.

Holly opened her eyes. And peered across the cellblock to the cell directly across from her Just in time to see the glinting eyes of a someone (who could have easily been a something) disappear into the shadow with their other different cellmates.

A prison guard, one with pretty blue eyes stopped in front of holly’s cell. Most of the holy guards had pretty eyes, a product of the angel blood, which they prized above all else. Seraphim had powers- agility, precision, night vision, speed, and strength. But some had so little of the angle blood in them that they were deemed low enough to work at the hybrid jails. But they would never be hybrids themselves- no seraphim were too pure for that. It made her sick.

Holly had seen this particular guard give the younger kids the old rolls that would have been thrown out because they were no longer deemed by the government to feed them. Never mind the fact that a lot of them were starving. Holly wondered how like seraphim hadn’t grown up emotionless and bloodthirsty. His eyes hovered on her for a second then He took out his keys.

“Holly homburg” he said,

“Yes” she felt shy suddenly. Her feet bare Her knees knobby and her hair oily, tied back with a stretch of white cloth torn from her shirt. This was it- when they would take her and drag her into a back room- she could fight back- she felt the adrenaline cloud her veins- yes they could take her but she would certainly take more from them.

“A representative from the tomb is here to see you”

“It’s your lucky day kid” the drawling voice said, a man in a black hat who stank of cigarettes stepped around the corner. The guard's eyes flickered from the man too Holly as he finished opening the door. It creaked on its rusty hinges. The musty man threw her a small envelope, which fluttered in the air until she caught it between her two hands. She broke the wax seal and tore at the pages hungrily. Her eyes scanned the piece of paper. Which felt thick and expensive and very smooth in her hand.

“10 years,” she said, not letting herself doubt what she had read, she looked up, “where?”

“The Pendulum foundation” holly’s eyebrows knotted together-

“The librarians association? Why are they sending me there?” the man scowled,

“Don’t ask me stupid questions girl! I asked for your head on a chopping block if you need to know, you there” he pointed at a guard who was standing at the other end of cell block 5, “go get prison 6674’s things from the storage room” he turned back to me, the guard scowled- but did it anyway. “What do you want me to leave you here girl, come along!” Holly skittered out of the shadows.

The upturned faces and eyes of those around her following her and she slid over the floor. Her bare feet slapping against the linoleum as she followed after the man.

Slowly one of them reached out a hand, “take us,” the small girl said, a forked tongue slithering out between bucked baby teeth. And then the others joined. Her wide eyes flashed at holly, one eye square likes a goats and the other warm wide and brown like a humans. A demon hybrid- already more other than human.

“Take us!” they sang! “Take us take us!” the other children in the prison extending their hands, their voices rising slowly above the yells of the guards to remain quiet. Some of the teenagers and those verging on adulthood among them knew better. Their blank eyes barely flickered from the grey walls as she passed them- they didn't even watch her go.

The children were different; they still felt the bizarre mixture of despair and hope- that surely they would be returned to their human mothers- that they would once again be free- a dream that could never be realized. She was unsure what kind of release they were asking for. Weather it was freedom from their cells, or the freedom of death- neither of which, she could ever give them.


	3. The Library

_2 days later._

Holly Homburg felt her nose to see if it was broken. She wiped the back of her hand across her nose feeling the hot wetness of her own blood. It stained the back of her wrist like rust around the end of a drainpipe. She groaned. It was not the first time she had been hit in the face. And god, did she know it would not be her last. The man in the black suit grunted turning around in the passenger seat to face her.

“We’re here” he said, his dark eyes watching her with an air of suspicion. As if she was doing something illegal just by sitting quietly in the backseat of this too shiny too new government vehicle.

“No offense” she said leaning her head up against the cool window. “But I kind of already guessed that." The man scowled and turned away not pausing to say goodbye to the driver. Holly peered out of the window. Some time ago the gentle sound of classic rock and the thrum of car’s wheels against asphalt had lulled her into sleep; the first easy rest that she had had in almost 2 years.

She had wanted to see the city as they entered it. She wanted to see the buildings glimmer like tall metallic trees over the east river- to see the men with horns poking through their hats as they rounded corners eating blood doughnuts and coffee that gleamed with the silver of magical potions. To see the mermaids dive and ride the jetties of the fairy ships that crowd the east river as they came to deliver their wares from the world's only they could access. She had wanted to see it as she once had- through a window of a train- an Amtrak careening into uncertainty so many years ago. She had wanted to see the glamour to chip it off of her surroundings like nail polish and reveal the other city beneath New York city- the other city- the only that she knew.

The familiar one-way streets and skyline of her city greeted her and made her heart ache with a bizarre feeling of longing. It was probably the same- but she defiantly wasn’t.

The window fogged from her breath. And a constellation of raindrops reflected a hundred Holly Homburgs back at her. Some time ago it had begun to rain. Holly breathed out a deep breath. The man in the dark suit tapped on the window as he waited impatiently on the curb. The car behind them honked, a green taxi, an old one. Holly paid it no mind. She opened the door and got out slowly. The city smelled as it always had. An odd tinge of smoke and garbage mixed with the savage smell of money- disinfectant- she was definitely back in Manhattan.

Holly had barely closed the door of the car before it speed off disappearing between the lines of sleek black cars and taxis. The man threw her duffle bag at her. She caught it before it hit her chest.

“Come along” he said as he turned and walked at a brusque pace across the street.

“And they say chivalry is dead” she said as she swung it over her shoulder.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

She almost didn’t look up at her new home- home- the word was fuzzy in her mouth. Home was a loosely applied term; if she had anything to say about it she would not be staying for long. She had no interest in science or literature. She was convinced she couldn’t help the pendulum foundation in any way. She had only gone along with the ghastly man this long because she knew that escaping from the pendulum foundation would be easier than escaping from him.

The way he moved- lithely gave her the suspicion that they had selected him purposely to escort her from the prison. The seraphim where talented, that was a fact, and every one of them had killed hundreds of people like her.

This brownstone was different than the others. It had a marble stoop threaded with faded lines of gold- instead of a concrete one and an old wood door decorated elegantly with copper bracings that spiraled intricately in an ornate fashion. The simple plants on either side shimmered in the light drizzle.

Or did they shimmer with something else?

Even with the added distractions of the rain, the noise of screeching brakes, of heating and cooling units Holly felt the magical barrier before she passed through it. At the prison there they hadn’t needed barriers to keep themselves secret (their location itself had done the job). The feeling was worse than shivers, like a bucket of icy water had been dumped onto one's head. With a shimmer, like heat rising over concrete the real building was revealed before her.

An infinity of large windows stretched upwards reflecting the image of the buildings across the street. Around each window a being was carved in stone so life like that she expected to see their chests rise with breath.

Rainwater soaked a woman with snake tails for legs as she held up a window with a stack of stone books, and farther up a griffin was coiled around a great circular window only to pierce more tombs with its clawed feet.

She could see the faint indentations in many of the grey bricks, and that was when she realized that they were supposed to be books, the largest one stood over the doorway with simple lettering that was faded and smudged with lichen. _The first library_.

Holly stood outside face turned upward. Holly had never expected to see the pendulum foundation first hand- or the first library, which had housed the institution for more than a millennium. But she had heard enough about it to recognize it.

The infinite library- the infinite space- it went by many names and was steeped in suspicion. It was a secret place- whose location was cloaked with some of the strongest spells ever created in human history. The library that never ended- that swelled to accommodate new books that popped up on its shelves the second they were finished. The most- and only complete library in the world.

With great trepidation, Holly stepped through the door.

The ceilings were tall, natural light creped through the windows and gave everything a silvery glow. When she finally closed the door behind her- it was not the suits of armor, the dark wood paneling, ancient portraits, or obvious splendor in which the room was furnished that made her sit back on her heals and stare for a second.

It was the sheer number and variety of books.

They were everywhere. Crammed between steps of stairs that lead upwards, stuffed into the suits of armor, on windowsills and packed on top on some of the wider thicker portraits. There was even one trapped hanging in the severed claws of the chandelier- dusty and adorned with cobwebs like a Christmas tree with tinsel.

Spines of All colors and makes tempted her fingers to pull them from their spots on their shelves- bound in leather, canvas or stone and of a million shapes and sizes. She stepped over the threshold onto a slate landing only to realize that she had stepped onto one giant book, set into the floor. Holly breathed in- the vanilla and musk smell of books tickling her nose. Her shoulders slumped. The man rounded the corner-

“Can’t you keep up? I don’t have all day” he grabbed her arm harshly and instinctively she shoved him off and put her hands in between them. This was a bad move- his nostrils flared angrily. He made a move to grab her And Holly stepped back, her feet clanged against the metal suit of armor. It tipped to the side and she struggled to steady the suit of armor but it clanged loudly against the wall. The man's meaty fists tangled themselves in holly’s locks and he gave a savage yank. She yelped as he pulled her across the floor her feet sliding as she tried to keep them under her.

“You think I can't take you back there,” he hissed, his foul breath and saliva sticking to the side of her face. “We own you girl, we can do whatever we wan-”

“There will be none of that here,” echoed a voice from the top of the stairs. Holly looked up, the ghastly man shoved her head away and she dashed to the side out of his reach. The man at the top of the stairs scowled and crossed his arms as he looked down at her attacker. “Avery ghastly- you are no longer needed here.”

“Fine” Avery spat the word in Holly's direction. “The human bitch is your problem now” the door banged behind him with a boom (and finality) that startled Holly. The man on the stairs descended, looked towards the window, and sighed,

He was of average height and as he got closer to holly, she realized that he was her age. He had warm brown eyes and thick-rimmed glasses. His dark hair shot through with red streaks sat coily and pulled back into a messy bun behind his head, He smiled at her widely, half circle dimples appeared on his cheeks. He held out a hand for her to shake. The sleeve of white shirt was pulled over the arm of his brown sweater. Ink stained hems.

“My name is Sairus Maxwell, but you can call me sia, it's so nice to meet you” Holly gripped the strap of her duffel bag with both hands and stared at his outstretched palm until he put it down.

“T-they must have given you a file?” he asked, ignoring the awkwardness. Holly reached inside her bag and handed him the thick manila envelope that had her named tagged to the corner. He gestured easily for her, and she followed him down one of the long hallways. She did not stop to look back at the books this time.

“It’s so nice to get a new face around her, it's been a few years since they’ve roped anyone into working with us”

“Is that so?” Holly said not really paying attention instead she worked on memorizing her way out- one left, 2 rights and then strait and down. The hallway was so narrow that they had to walk single file. This was mostly due to the fact that books tiled every inch of the walls, pages and spines fitting together like bricks and mortar. Holly thought it must have been impossible to read any of them without causing a cave in. but she was so delighted to be around so many books that she didn’t care.

The vast amount of stories surrounding her made her giddy. She kept the excitement off of her face incase Siarus turn around, but she extended her finger to run across the many spines of books as the walked. They reached a small octagonal room. Tiled with black and white squares each of them spreading out from the center in a simple scrolling calligraphy of words that she couldn't read. Each side of the octagon had a door- some of them were open- they showed more hallways and more books.

One led to an open light place- holly could smell something savory coming from it. Its doors were propped open by a cookbook, which was lodged in between its hinges- probably the kitchen.

Straight ahead of them was a pair of black doors- taller than the others with a large brass knocker in the shape of a kraken.

“This is the main library – where most of the books on magical creatures are kept,” Sairus said, as he tugged on the knocker to open it- not to knock. The doors glided opened silently on oiled hinges.

The room was gigantic. Great windows of stained glass, each depicting a figure- a different species in long cloaks cast pool of different colors onto the wooden floors. Holly spied a seraphim- holding a sword with eyes like neon lights, a fox like shaping shifter-holding a lump of clay, a fey with a branch of oak, and many others that screeched into the distance.

Couches and desks were pushed against walls and several more velvet poufs had coagulated around a tall fireplace that flickered- its flames far hotter and far brighter than normal fire. They walked by Books bound in what looked like human skin lay behind glass open to pictures of mandrakes, or holding detailed descriptions of Styx demon liver and its many uses. And then a ring of Spell books- encrusted in more gems than where to be found in a diamond mine sat untouched behind glass.

Holly couldn’t tell if it was bullet proof, enchanted, or just under lock and key but her first thought was that she could definitely steal it if she wanted too. Something like that would have fetched a killing on the black market. Enough to set her up somewhere safe for a long while.

Siarus lead her out of the library and into a side room. In the middle of it an old fashion desk was littered with papers two low backed leather chairs sat in front of it. The walls where peppered with books and drawers- making them look like they were half file cabinets and half shelves. There were no windows in the room but a fire- much smaller than the fireplace in the main room crackled filling it with warmth.

At the table was a man- standing not sitting as he bent over a set of documents that littered his cluttered desk. He was tall and maybe in his late forties, with a chiseled face that was beginning to show wrinkles and laugh lines. His eyes where a deep cobalt blue and his hair- which had probably once been black- was greying heavily. He instantaneously reminded Holly of the ancient mariner from Coleridge’s poem.

A small looking woman with silver blond hair leaned over and said something to him quietly, a smile broke out on the man's face as he leaned forward and continued to lonk at his papers. She glanced up them as they walked in the door. Her eyes were golden green and silted like a cats- _witch_ Holly thought with a start, she didn’t let her fear show and kept walking.

She tapped the man and as she stood up strait and for the first time Holly noticed her swollen belly. It startled her- and made her stop. The man on the other hand sat back in his chair looking at Holly with his eyes alight with a mixture apprehension and boredom.

“So” he said his voice deep and rumbly, “you're the new fresh meat” holly shook off her surprise and made she grin at him, thought it was more of a bearing of teeth than anything else.

“Sure if you want to be that cliché why don’t just pour on the tenderizer” she said with a roll of her eyes, trying to stop the shaking in her left leg. He smiled and sat straighter in his chair. He held out his hand and Sirius stepped forward handing him the manila envelope.

“I am captain John Holland and this” the cat eyed woman smiled picking up her papers and making her way around the wide desk, “is my wife Carlotta” she smiled and grabbed holly’s hand shaking it vigorously.

“Please call me Lottie! It's so nice to meet you!” she said. Her voice was high pitched and cheery, the kind that you would expect to hear on early morning television or on the news.

“I'll get out of your hair so you can discuss official stuff” she grabbed Siarus by the arm, and winked at Dodge.

“Mom! Come on!” He exclaimed as she dragged him out of the library. Protesting, but she saw Dodge shoot him a look. And he was gone. Holly couldn’t help but feel like they should have had a different time and place to do this, not now when time needed no wasting.

She wanted to get out of here.

Holly could still hear his mild protests as they echoed down the hall. Dodge gestured for Holly to sit, and this time she did.

“You will not call me john, captain J, J-dude, captain J-man or any other, variations stated, you may however call me Holland, captain John, captain, Mr. Holland or sir”

“Any more titles and one would think you where the king”

“And what do you think?”

“I think the world would be scandalized to see you in tights.” His expression darkened.

“A degree of occasional sarcasm I tolerate and enjoy, but keep up that level of sass and you and I will have problems. Are we clear?” Holly amused herself by picking at the dirt underneath her fingernails, but eventually she answered.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Yes?” Holly rolled her eyes.

“Yes sir” she put all of her sassiness that she could into that one syllable. Dodge didn’t seem to notice. He was flicking through her file again and then he stopped. The page he stopped on had a chart with small little writing and numbers next to sentences. A large seal dominated most of the page and Holly knew that the list continued on to the back and possibly onto the next page.

The seal was one that she had seen many times- in pin’s on the seraphic guards coats on the wall of the prison- it was a pair of triangles inverted and overlapping to form 2 x’s. It was the insignia of the order.

the order was thought to be an advanced form of government with. Most seraphim thought that it was far superior to the way that the rest of the world- the human world- governed itself (though there were rumors that they were trying to change the human system and guide it towards a single world wide government like the order). Of course everyone besides the seraphim thought that the order was doing a horrible job. This was mostly due to the fact that only seraphim were allowed into the executive board of the order. It wasn’t an official rule- but no otherling had ever made it past the primaries.

Holly's eyes flicked up to look at John Holland, she wondered what he thought about the order’s plans for the rest of the world. He was reading her test scored avidly and she almost cringed thinking about what he might be reading.

“Holly homburg, female, age 17, Blue eyes, brown hair. Sentenced for 10 years service to pend-1 division of science, for the murder of a member of the seraphim.” He whistled lowly. “You’re lucky you got off with such a weak sentence” Holly did not look at him. And made no comment.

“Mathematics; rank 3, literature: rank 2. Security clearance: rank 2, proficiency in handguns 5, endurance rank 7, interspecies rank 3 and a…..” his voice caught, “an 8 in hand to hand combat and an 8 rank in agility?”

He tossed the file down, the papers that composed of her file; all the medical examinations that she knew had been falsified and the extensive physical and mental tests, slipped free of the manila sheath and spread themselves across the already messy desk. “How accurate would you say those assessments are?”

“Accurate enough sir” she said evenly, careful not to criticize the order- he was a captain. Her fingernails dug into the leather of her chair, leaving little half moon indents where they had been. He extracted a different sheet from the pile of her papers.

“It says here, that prior to your incarceration at CD- 111 you used to be in a gang, is that true”

“Yes sir” she said her stomach lurching as she thought of the place.

“Which one?”

“The ivory thorns sir”

“So you’re wonderland’s spawn aren’t you” he said, referring to the gang leader before her- The only one who had ever gotten out of the gang life without ending up in a grave, a legend both here and on the streets. Wonderland could steal anything- get any information, kill anybody even the most heavily armed tomb officials. His skills made him a hot commodity among the humans and well known among the otherling's.

The last time she had seen or heard from wonderland or Resse as he was knows as to her- was living in Brooklyn- doing “freelance work” Assassination and theft for hire, as well as espionage. Resse had been like an older brother to her. Nurturing her sister and herself when they had first found themselves in NYC. She couldn't count the number of times he had bandaged her knee or helped her master a new weapon. He was the reason for her 8 in combat.

“No sir, I I’ve never met wonderland” she lied easily. “Will that be a problem?” she asked as he stood up and walked over to one of the shelves. “No. The pendulum foundation has always been interested in the man known as wonderland- he’s a relative shadow, but unlike the order we only want to study him” he leaned his chin on top of his hands.

“Ever since they found his dna at a crime scene we’ve known he doesn’t fit into the normal criteria for otherlings- meaning either he’s a new species or a very old and rare one. You’re quite certain you don’t know where he is?” Holly wondered how many of the wrinkles on his face where due to Resse. Holly knew he would have gotten a kick out of it. The thought did little to settle her gradually more turbulent stomach.

“Yes sir”

“And what of the ivory thorns, was it composed of humans or creatures?”

“A mixture of both sir” she said uneasily. His cobalt eyes flickered up to gaze into hers, waiting for her to clarify. “But it was mostly creatures”

“What sorts?”

“I don’t know sir”

“Have you had any contact with them in the past year and a half”

“No sir”

“Do you plan on contacting them?”

“No sir” it continued on like that for minutes, have you ever fired a gun, yes sir, how well do you know NYC, well sir, what’s your favorite weapon, my own two fists sir. He questioned her until the light hum of rain outside stopped.

“As far as I can tell there's no problem with your being here. Ill send the official papers to the tomb first thing in the morning so we can get your security clearance bumped up to level 4. Until then, we'll see if we can't get that literacy and interspecies ranking up too at least a 5. Sia will tutor you in that, my next in command Jack will be your weapons and hand to hand combat tutor”

“I thought you said my combat was alright, I don’t need a teacher” Holly exclaimed unable to stop herself.

“I will be the judge of that” he said standing, “you will report tomorrow and on the 3rd Monday of every month too skill assessment day, on which I will evaluate your skills. Only after you have passed once; and have reached approval from the tomb will you be allowed to go on missions inside the city and excursions outside and inside of the city itself, until that you are not allowed to leave is that clear?”

“Yes” Holly said. Just perfect- he was already setting forth rules that she was planning on breaking.

“Do you have any questions?” Holly shook her head slowly. Dodge stood, cracking his neck with several loud pops.

“If you have the intention of causing the pendulum foundation or my family any trouble, I will make sure you never see the light of day outside of the prison yard. Sia should be outside, he will take you to your room”

“We didn’t have a prison yard, not one that had access to the sun at least,” she said as she stood. Dodge shot her a surprised look and in that moment she knew his views- he thought the prisons where outside- he had never been to one or seen one. Holly turned to walk at a controlled pace towards the door.

“Holly one more thing” she turned around slowly.

“Yes?”

“It says here that you are human, is that true?” his eyes, which promptly said to her through the least proverbial manor- I will take no shit from you where watching her face. She kept her expression steady and did not look away. She said, her voice wavering if only for a moment.

“Yes.”

She wondered how many more lies could weigh her down before she broke.


	4. Jack Shiro

“Dodge informed me that you're going to teach me about your world” she said as the large ebony door closed behind them.

“Our world,” he corrected, he smiled down at Holly, “but yes I’m going to teach you.”

“Is it going to be a formal type of thing, like with a test and paper or more a lecture” Holly feigned interest and readjusted her bag on her back.

“A mixture of both I suppose,” he said, looking at Holly. “Do you need help with your bag?” Holly shook her head. “What species are you?” he asked, as the hallway got narrower and narrower, the books shifted and seemed to grow older as they walked.

“Human.”

“Really?” he asked turning his head around to peer at her. “You struck me as more of a skilled”

“Nope there isn’t an ounce of angel blood in me.” they were back in the main room now and they ascended. The expensive wood creaking underneath Sais footsteps but not hers. “What about you” Holly asked, Sia smiled his nose crinkling,

“Guess?“ he said looking at her gauging her for possible reactions.

“Are you serious?” Holly panted as they ascended a second and more steep flight of stairs. It had been along time since she had moved around so much. She was disappointed in how out of shape she had become during her year and a half of incarceration.

“Completely” he said, “I might as well start gauging your ability now, it will mean less work later. I’ll give you three tries and if you get it right we can study anywhere you want. ”

“That’s dangerous what if I said at the bottom of the east river or on the other side of the country?”

“Oh I assure you the bottom of the river wouldn’t be a problem for me”

“There are hundreds, if not thousands of things you could be” that wasn’t exactly true. Most types of demons could be ruled out, as well as most Grecian monsters, skilled would have been a likely choice, as the tomb didn’t let people join who were too far from angle or human. However Holly was already starting to suspect that the pendulum foundation didn’t fall into the normal patterns that other factions of the tomb did- Lottie was a witch after all, and witches were normally allowed to care for their wounded, but that was all- no positions in government. And She had yet to meet a skilled that was not notably asshole-ish save for captain dodge who, admittedly, had a to deal with teenagers all day.

“It will be my job to teach you to identify all of them, as well as the politics associated with each race- self government and the like” Sia paused for a minute then did a turn about the landing which they had paused on. “I take it you’ve spent time on the streets enough to know that the order tries to stay out of fey, and shape shifter affairs- the pack system works well enough- though I do have some thought on how- well,” he looked her up and down “enough of my jabbering- Have at it Holly” he said.

She observed the simple things about him, the number of joints on his fingers, his eyes, his nose- slightly more pointed than the average soul’s. His feet, clad in simple sneakers, no hooves or claws poking out through the front. They kept walking.

“Are you a skilled like your father?”

“Dodge is my adoptive father. And a little too humanoid- but good guess, 2 more tries.” Holly’s cheeks flushed slightly and she wasn’t exactly surprised to find out that Sia wasn’t Dodge and Lottie’s real son. Neither had red hair, and they shared any similar features. Dodge and Lottie looked very European while Sia looked more Irish or perhaps Middle Eastern.

She observed his nose again, a little crooked with nostrils that where narrow- almost snakelike. “Shape shifter?” she asked,

“Close- I suppose I'm a subset of shape shifter. You’ve got one more” he smiled mischievously. Holly could tell he was enjoying this. Holly looked at him again, as he breathed, the sense of warmth that radiated off of him, she breathed in a deep breath and noticed underneath the smell of books, a twinge of something burnt and ashen. But the thing that really gave him away was his nails. One look at their too shiny surface, tinged with red around the cuticle like a scale and Holly had it.

“You’re a dragon?” she asked, unsure if she wanted to be right. Sia smiled softly.

“Mostly” he said sheepishly as he gestured for them to continue down the hall and around another corner. “My father was high human in aspect, so i got this” he gestured to himself- his human body “but my mother had wings all the time”

Holly remembered learning about dragons- Her knees drawn up against her chest as she and her sister huddled beneath covers to block out the cameras. Her sister whispering things about the outside world to her. Most shape shifters and magical humanoids existed on a spectrum. The closer to human that they were the more human they looked, the easier the shift, and the more powerful they were. “My mother was part bibliophite too” he looked at the books around them and smiled softly.

“What’s a bibliophite?” Sia shook his head.

“At first I couldn’t get you to talk and now all you do is ask questions. I'll explain everything to you eventually. I’m actually kind of excited to be your tutor- I’ve never had a student close in age to myself- most of the time Dodge has me teach the younger kids” he explained.

“I’m not sure if I should be offending by that” said Holly under her breath, but Sia heard her anyway and laughed showing off his teeth that- Holly realized now that she took a closer look- where an hair sharper than they should have been.

“It’s never too late to learn.”

“What’s your aspect” Holly asked. Watching him guardedly, “sorry if it's inappropriate to ask”

“No it's fine” he said rolling the sleeve on his right arm “I’m very nearly high human- just the one” at the junction of his elbow and forearm sat a single shiny scale. Red and glimmering like a ruby in the light from a bulb over head.

“So can you breath fire and stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever geeked out and gotten the urge to hoard gold or something?” Sia laughed again.

“No, I can't say I’ve ever had to fight the urge- books on the other hand...”

“Is it weird when-?” Sia held up his hand.

“Enough questions, I’ll show you more day after tomorrow- assuming evaluation day doesn’t take two days” Holly was surprised how easy conversation was flowing. Sia seemed interesting, and she had never met a dragon who wasn’t- well- a dragon all the time. Most dragons couldn't change into humans, only purebloods. Dragon’s like Sia were rare- so rare that Holly would not have been surprised if Sia was the only one in New York _. It must not be easy_ she thought as she watched his shoulders, the way they hunched over slightly, _being so alone_. 

They went through a pair of double doors.

“This is the residential wing of the pendulum foundation, there are about a hundred rooms but at the moment, only this floor is being used, the pendulum foundation used to be more of a college- but lately its been feeling more like a boarding school”

“Who’s the youngest?”

“A boy named James- he's 9” Holly glanced at him. Her blue eyes meeting his rusty brown. Sia answered her unasked question. “Parents killed when a mountain troll smashed through their cabin when he was eight” he pointed at a door- “doesn’t leave his room much”

“Who’s the oldest” Holly asked.

“Nicketa - she’s dodge’s second in command. she’s an indenture like you- but when her time was up she decided to stay” Holly didn’t ask why she was here and she didn't let herself wonder what made someone want to stay here- it was everywhere. the easy scuff marks of loving misuse- the unlocked kitchen door where she assumed food was free for the taking. , Sia walked down the hallway- pointing to the doors and saying the name and aspect of the person who lived there. She was glad to learn that they didn’t often share rooms, and when they did- they were siblings.

“That room belongs to our technician Gurdy Shiro, her door usually isn’t locked but it's always booby-trapped, you might want to try knocking before you enter- oh! And that girl called Chicory rigged her bathroom to take her to the fey world” Sia shrugged giggling as the rounded another corner “some pixies are quite peculiar, and if I were you, I wouldn’t tell Dodge I don’t think he knows.”

Holly was surprised to learn that Sia was a talker. What His previous silence upon her entry had been she wasn’t sure. The back of her head still ached from where Avery had yanked. And she had a feeling she wouldn’t soon forget what Sia had done- or that someone like Avery ghastly had listened to him.

“What’s the difference between fairies and pixies?” Holly asked actually curious. Sia opened his mouth as if to answer then closed it quickly.

“Tomorrow. I promise. ” Holly feigned a pout and turned away so that he couldn’t see her face. As much as she would have liked getting to know Sia better she knew she couldn’t. It was a rare thing that she found someone that she could talk with so easily. Be that as it may She knew that she would not be here in the next few hours let alone the lifetime that she was supposed to spend indentured.

This hallway would never belong to her- this place would never feel like home. But could home be found by people like her? By someone who had a transient lifestyle like her? She wouldn’t be around long enough for anyone to make some kind of schedule for her. She wouldn't be here long enough to learn the ways of the pendulum foundation and the other world let alone put names to the faces he was rattling off.

The pendulum foundation might have preached this air of education but it was still apart of the order- the government system devoted to secrecy and the imprisonment of thousands of people each month whose only crime was existing in the first place. Existing in a way that endangered their secrets.

What was it all really worth anyway? _Power of governments shouldn’t be held in secrets_ thought Holly, _but in actual acts, both good and evil._

“Holly?” Sia asked. Holly looked up to find that he was looking at her, confusion and curiosity mixed together in his eyes.

“I asked you what room you’d like, in the middle of things here-” he gestured around him. Here were scuff marks on the floorboards and names on the doors in little gold plates; some of the names were crossed out. One door had a row of sticky notes stuck to it, what looked like an ongoing conversation between friends. One of them on the top said in small dark letters. _I love you_. Holly swallowed.

“- Or down there” he gestured to the end of the hall; the silver light streaming through the windows at the end was dimming imperceptibly. “The rooms are a little older down there but if you'd rather be near quiet…”

“Yes.” Holly said, trying to contain how uncomfortable she was at that moment. “Down there would probably be better” As they walked down the hallway Sia continued to point out different peoples doors. Holly assumed that she would have met all of these people tomorrow- but that that was not an option for her. So she continued to nod along, feigning interest with as much gusto as she could muster. In truth Holly just wanted to curl up somewhere warm and sleep for a few hours.

“This is-“ a large clang sounded from the door, which had swung slightly in on its hinges. The sound of metal slapping hard against metal echoed down the hallway.

“What the?” Holly said pushing against the door with the toe of her shoe.

“AVAST YE SCURVY DOGS, YOU MAY HAVE HAD ME ON THE ROPES JUST MOMENTS AGO BUT GAH- YOU BASTARDS! YOU MAY HAVE TAKEN MY HAND NOW WATCH AS I TAKE YOUR LIFE” came a disembodied voice as something hard and heavy hit the floor. Holly felt the vibration in her feet.

“Jesus Christ” Sia heaved a large sigh and then flung the door open placing himself squarely in the doorway.

“Jack! What the hell are you doing-is that Stanley?”

“Who’s Stanley? And is he dead yet?” Sia turned to holly, she still couldn’t quite see into the room.

“Sorry I’m going to have to deal with him before I get you situated, it will only take a moment” Sia sighed again and entered the room.

It was apparent to Holly that Stanley must have been the training puppet. His head, which was currently decked out with eyeliner, lipstick was on the floor. His body was marred and marked from blades. Deep thick punctures and long slashes littered the surface evenly. Thought most of them were over the heart.

The dark haired man (who Holly assumed was Jack) was wearing a shirt the color of ashes turned to them.

Her first thought was- _that is **not** fair_.

He was not the most attractive man that Holly had ever met or seen, but god did he come close to it. He was tall, but not towering, with a neatly pointed chin and Curly black hair that clung to his forehead and neck. His lean yet muscular body was covered in tattoos, which she had originally mistaken for a grey t-shirt.

There was a whip that curled around his forearm, kanji on the backs of his hands, two swords that ran from each wrist to the crook of each elbow. And so many more that were either too intricate or too small for Holly to make out entirely.

A large black dragon dominated his chest- intricately inked- its face captured in a permanent snarl with black wings tucked neatly behind his back. Its claws were sunken into his chest. The tail disappeared between his narrow hips and into the waistband of his jeans.

He looked up at her and almost flinched, Beautiful silver eyes that were slanted upwards; they seemed to shine and reflect the light like animal eyes, grey one moment and rimmed a yellowish green the next. _Seraphim._

The next words that came out of his mouth seemed more devil than angel as he smiled revealing straight white teeth.

“Hi ho Sia! Who’s the shrimp?” he asked. His smile made his eyes do a little squinty thing that Holly couldn’t quite describe but made her stomach do little flip-flops. She shoved the feeling firmly down beneath her toes and ignored the fact that he was very very shirtless and that his jeans looked like they were about to slid down his narrow hips.

“I’m not short” Holly said. But he didn't seem to hear her. He didn’t seem to hear anybody because Sia started to say something and he kept speaking. His eyes looked glassier than she had originally realized like marbles.

“What knowledge have you brought us today! Master of book and flame” jack made to tackle him but Sia riled out of his grip “Some knowledge about demon feces or another glorious little tidbit about the growth rate of rat demon population? Or the effects of various alcoholic beverages on the many different species that inhabit this darling orb called planet earth?” Sia’s face was unreadable. His jaw set. His teeth clenched.

“Where are they Jack” Sia asked, his voice low.

“Or perhaps a wonderful bit about 18 century banshees in the opera-“ Sia gripped Jack by his shoulder and in one quick movement freed him of his blade. A long thin thing that he held in his hand. The saber clattered to the floor.

“Where are the drugs.” Jack instantly sobered up and then pointed to a dresser that was so covered in weapons. Sia went over and extricated a box, which jingled with the sound of glass clanging together when he tucked it under his arm. Jack pouted.

“Do you really have to take them al-“ Jack began, but Sia threatened him with a wordless glare that Holly was surprised a person like Sia could have produced. Gone was his smile and his easy words.

“Take a walk and clean your room; it's filthy” Sia spat, casting a glance at what looked to be a miniature forest of mold. Jack looked at his feet and pouted “and get your haircut, it's almost longer than your sister’s” Sia shut the door with a thump.

Sia opened the door at the end of the hall harder then he should have. The door clattered with a bang. The room had a lot of windows, which was very nice. Holly had never had a lot of windows in her own room before. And the only space that had been entirely her own had been her jail cell.

The room was semi circular. A large bed was pushed up against one side of the walls. And the square windows started at waist height and stopped at the ceiling. A very large tree mostly obscured the view but she could see a view- over the rooftops and onto the city beyond. Holly was surprised. She didn't think they had climbed up quite that many flights of stairs- for all she knew it could have been magic.

A small dresser was pushed up against the only wall that wasn’t windowed, and beside that a door opened to an equally tiny blue tiled bathroom with a claw foot tub. A dusty velvet chair the color of the sky at night sky was pushed up against the spot where the circular portion of the wall met the flat side. Holly sat back and looked at the room for a moment aware of Sia watching her from the doorway. She put her bag slowly down on the bed and as she sat.

“Jack’s not that much of an asshole usually” he shook the box, “it’s because of these” he placed the box on the windowsill and using both arms, opened the window.

“What are they?” Holly asked.

“They’re called emotional enhancements thought the street name is affectum- Latin for “feeling”” Sia sat down on the lip of the window and released a small nob. The window fell open. And she saw that if she wanted too she could slide it open completely. They couldn’t possibly be that stupid.

“Don’t they put something like that in food? Like the potions that the fairies put in their teas?” Holly had been too a few tea shops in her time- fairy teas were helpful, get a shot of bravery before you ask someone out, a shot of charisma when you know you're going to have to talk your way out of a situation And all with a pleasant flavor of coffee, tea, or orange juice. The shop on 37th street that she had frequented sold joy as well, under the table mostly. The tomb had banned it last year after someone one was discovered selling it to humans.

Any emotion you wanted at any time of the day. Anything to disguise the pain.

“Affectum is more concentrated- more recreational” he popped one of the small bottles and emptied it out of the window. “Most of it comes in powder form- but they combine it with water and oils to make it more potent than the stuff they put in tea”

“Which one was Jack on?” Holly asked. Her curiosity getting the better of her even though she was not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“Probably joy or bliss- it’s the most common one, He tends to mix which is dangerous” Holly’s eyebrows furrowed and she walked over and picked up one of the smaller bottles. One labeled with small thin writing- _love_ , the bottle was almost empty of its silvery purple liquid.

“These weren’t popular the last time I was out” Sia gestured to the bed, and Holly sat down tossing him the bottle which he uncorked in one swift movement.

“Where were you before this?” she took a few moments to answer- long enough that Sia said, “sorry” and turned away- his hair covering his eyes.

“DC-111” she said easily, Sia looked up. His brown eyes boring into her soul

“You don’t seem like the prison type. What did you do?” Holly looked away. She was unsure what she should say. “You don’t have to say- not everyone here comes from such shining pasts and it’s not like any of us don’t have demons- or eh, skeletons in our closets.”

His words surprised her; she wasn’t expecting anyone from the order (however far removed from the actual chain of command this foundation was) to act towards her with any amount of kindness. he unstoppered the last bottle and then drew up the box close to his chest.

“It's evaluation day tomorrow and I’ll show you where the training room is. niketa doesn’t go easily especially not on new people, so try to get some sleep- I know you must be tired” he hovered awkwardly in the doorway, like he was waiting for her to say that she was tired. “I’ll See you tomorrow.” He smiled at her and closed the door.

Holly felt giddy with anxiety, she wanted to run to feel asphalt under her feet again. “See you tomorrow” Holly echoed back faintly knowing that they would both be lucky if they never saw each other again. the thought made her mouth taste sour.


	5. INTEREM 1: 13-1X

_Past_

Subject 13-1X stepped out onto the concrete playground- it was the first time she had ever been allowed on the floor with the other patients. A group of boys played basketball, one of them had hairy hooves for feet, another had skin that shimmered like rivers of gold, and the other had black holes for eyes and a slit for a mouth that was lined with razor like teeth.

The sky above her was perilously blue- she had never seen such a color. and she found herself wondering if there was any way to bottle the color. They bottled the pretty little colored medicines they gave her daily, so you could probably bottle the sky? Couldn't you? .

Around the edge of the playground heavyset men stood watching the creatures with beady eyes as they held black matchstick machines that popped and fizzled with heat when the children stepped out of line.

She stayed right where she was, she didn't want to go still like that.

The wind whipping against her skin was sensuous. The concrete was the roughest thing she had ever felt against her bare feet. Despite it being painful, it felt amazing. The only thing she had ever felt was linoleum tile, and harsh linen.

It was the first day she had seen the world outside of her small white room, and all she could think about was how beautiful it all was.

_Subject No. 13-1X_

_Age: 6_

_Gender: female_

_Journal entry no.3_

_Subject Has so far shown no characteristics like her previous counterparts- no inclination towards violence or kindness or mercy. She did not even flinch when a guard killed a fellow patient as instructed. She seems only fascinated with the world around her. Today was the first day she had seen others of different species but she made no comment on it- reserving her words for the trees and the wind. Further tests will have to be made to determine if this is a manifestation of her genetic code or if she does not understand death. She is different than any other child we have raised at this facility._

\- R. Stapleton


	6. Choices Choices

_Future_

When she was sure everyone was asleep and she had checked her gear 10 times over, She dragged her old watch out of her backpack and checked the time. She had been at the pendulum foundation for a little over ten hours and it already felt like she had been there too long. She snapped the watch onto her wrist.

She opened the window that Sia had used to dump the drugs out earlier- it opened with a small squeak. She waited for a moment- for the rush of hushed voices and the sound of scraping footsteps but none came.

She gauged the distance to the ground. It had been a long time since she had done parkour- in the city- it was the gang-kid’s choice modicum of escape. Why waste time with stairs when artful falling was quicker? the broken bones and scrapes that came from taking the larger falls slowed them down- but significantly less than they should have. She eyed the gap from her window to the floor. - a little more than 2 stories too the ground. She had broken bones from less of a fall. She thought briefly of the pain of a broken wrist- or the more than likely broken ankle that she could incur from this fall. She did not want to have to deal with that later.

She tossed her bag out first; it landed with a hiss of leaves in a nearby bush. She climbed onto the windowsill and cast one spare glance into the room that she told herself would never feel like home. And then she turned pushed with her heels off the side of the building and was airborne.

She tucked her head and rolled into the grass. She reeled for a moment, feeling the shock of the impact go through her knees and waist. She waited for the ground to stop spinning and then grabbing her bag she extricated herself from the courtyard.

She walked around to the side of the building and tried a door on what looked to be a garage. Thankfully it was unlocked and empty, rows of cars sat, some shiny and new, and others underneath cloth tarps, a Harley Davidson motorcycle gleamed on a rack and other vehicles gleamed on the walls suspended.

She tried another side door. This one opened up onto the street. Pedestrians were few and far between but the river of humming cars with their angry yellow eyes was Omni present. She pulled up her hood lest someone recognize her- or a camera catch a glimpse of her. She found a street corner and was surprised to find that she was downtown and not uptown like she had suspected. She altered her course uptown briefly towards grand central station.

The easiest thing to do would be to buy an Amtrak ticket, and go either north or south into a different country. Canada was closest- but Mexico was safest- she would never get past airport security and she would have tried a boat if she knew that wouldn't be fucking miserable.

She had 8 hours tops before the order came looking for her. After a few weeks her face would disappear into a pile of other missing teenagers and then things would get safer. It was a fate that gang leaders like her usually faced. A quick run to south america or some frozen wasteland and then they would return when things quieted down- in the end it was a much needed vacation that resulted in jail time being avoided and life being saved.

Honestly she didn't know why the order didn’t thank them for not eating up valuable federal funds.

Unfortunately for her running hadn’t been an option at the time of her arrest. She rarely thought of that time now or questioned what she could have done differently. the night and the rushing about and the hushed voices as Holly got them out- everyone but herself. She forced the memory down.

But the train would have been too risky, too many surveillance cameras. They could phone ahead and have someone cut her off too easily. Taking the bus had the same risk.

 _Staying in the city would have been safer_ she the thought idly, and then a smile broke out onto her face. _That was exactly what they didn't expect her to do_. The more she thought about that idea the more it appealed to her.

Of course after a year and a half of being absent she could hardly go back to her gang. They would have a new leader by now- possibly her second in command from or a newcomer. in the gang world leaders were replaced as easily as bed sheets. Her own leadership would have been the longest ever featured if it weren't for her predecessor, a man known only as wonderland.

 _Wonderland_ \- or as he was known to her, Resse ali donawin.

It had been a few years, but given their history, Resse could hardly say no to her. She altered her course south towards the Brooklyn Bridge. The pedestrians grew fewer and fewer and the area around her grew more industrial.

The last time she had heard from her old teacher he had been living above a bank in Brooklyn. Reese had been the most popular gang leader in nyc for as long as anyone could remember. Ruthless with his enemies, and caring with his friends, Resse had been feared by all and respected by some. To the tomb he was a ruthless immortal with enough power to bring them to their knees. Above all else Resse was ruthless, and wouldn’t spare any magical politician, or human who crossed his path. Which was one of the reasons why the tomb had been- and still was desperate to find him.

The d.n.a was a new thing for him to worry about. she had to tell him. she knew he would just love the excuse to wear leather gloves. she could almost hear him say _“what do you think would go better with my eyes? lavender or cream?”_

Holly had admired the way that he had lead the ivory thorns Long before he had started grooming her for succession. To those who knew him he was their savior. He not only fed them, he taught them how to fight, how to read if they didn’t know and above all else- he taught them how to avoid the tomb. It didn’t matter that he was grooming them to be gunned down one day- because everyone knew that dying out in the open on their own two feet was better than dying in a jail cell- a fate that Holly had narrowly avoided.

No one knew why Resse had stepped down- no one besides her.

She knew the Resse would let her stay in his spare room as long as she needed too. He would even give her work if she asked, though his kind of work was not for the faint of heart. It would be nice to see Resse again, to sit down with him and have a cup of tea- something that they had done every week after she had commandeered his thrown.

She would tell him about the library at the pendulum foundation, how it seemed to go on forever and ever- about the books and how they Gleamed in their shining cages. how easy it had been to escape from there- At least the people at CD-111 had known to lock their doors.

the wooden planks of the Brooklyn Bridge rattled acoustically underfoot. far away she could see the swirling mass of a carousel on the water's edge as it turned and turned and turned. It was still lightly misting. The wooden planks gleamed green and red and yellow in the lights of the bridge.

On the horizon the lines of the buildings severed the earth from the sky with its haphazard teeth. The clouds looks like they where burning. She looked down into the water and the forgotten peirs nothing but dark stumps against the curing river. For a second she thought she saw something long and skeleton gliding through the water with smooth scaled dark body, but then it was gone.

Holly shivered and felt a brief drop of vertigo- both rivers of Manhattan where filled with sea serpents. The magic that protected human ships from them was heavy in the air- it stank like iron and burned shugar. And she knew if she were to pass through it she would last only seconds. She was thankful she wasn’t in the river.

She was so preoccupied looking at the water that she almost didn’t hear it. The steady thump, the twinge of metal scraping up against metal. Someone wasthere- a dark silouette in the streetlight- their face hidden. She stopped abruptly and the person- the boy went to retrieve the throwing knives that he had been throwing into the opposite beam.

how strong did you have to be to sink steel into steel? she realized that she didn’t want to find out. He yanked the last knife out of the beam and turned in her direction. She scrambled back into the shadows but too late he had already spotted her.

“To tell you the truth,” Jack Shiro said, as he put down his hood, revealing his hair, which had been cropped close to his scull shorter then when she last saw him. “I didn’t expect to see you here”

“Neither did I” Holly said somberly as she flicked her wrist, causing a small metal cylinder composed of what looked like tiny metal scales to fall into her hands, she flicked her wrist again and her staff expanded to its full lenth. She held it at the ready and then twirled it experimentally. About a foot longer then Holly- the staff gleamed deadly in the light. She smiled inwardly feeling adrenaline course through her veins at the thought of fighting him, After not handling it for so long her staff felt welcome and familiar in her hands.

He held up his hands, back tracking a few steps before he stopped.

“ if you want to go, then go. I wont stop you”

“What?” Holly said.

“Go” his eyes challenged her to fight him but his body language said otherwise. He stepped aside indicating the end of the bridge with his hand. “ I know your type- the ones who hit the ground running- always looking for a safe place- when you don’t even know what one is” he walked forward.

“I know what safety feels like” Holly said, Jack raised his eyebrow

“Really? Because I’ve been willing to bet that you never been safe” he paused for a second. “I saw you today- looking at Sia like he might rip your head off. Let me as wade your fears- he won't hurt you- none of us will hurt you”

Her hands tightened around her staff. “I can’t know that and neither can you,” she said. She wondered what it was about this boy- this man. (A man he definitely was- his broad shoulders seemed to cut into the light- his dark jacket thrown lazily over a gray t-shirt.) That seemed to cut into her- that made her want to be honest with him- that made her want to make him not only know but make him understand. He stepped closer to her- holding her gaze. She tightened her jaw. “So what if I run. Running is all I know”

His eyes where sorrowful“And that's the sad part. You’re running away to whatever home you think you have and you can’t even see that there’s a home for you here” Holly snapped up her staff to hit against his cheek but he caught it and turned away lazily.

“You don’t know me Jack shiro, you don’t know any of us” she said filling her words with as much spite as she could manage- “I hate you seraphim, you think that you know what its like to look over your sholder, what its like to live on the streets and fear your own blood. you're dead wrong about all of us. And I have felt safe before.” She thought of Reese and of her sister. Her heart thrummed and then ached with shame and longing. “That place can't give me safe.”

“Im not seraphim, my father is, but thank god im not” he said, as he walked around her- “and maybe, but it could be better. It could allow you to stop running- haven’t you ever wondered what it would feel like- warm meals, a bed with clean sheets, clean cloths? Don’t you want to be something other then a rebel without a cause?

“I have a cause and it is myself.” she spat out, but with less viterol then she hoped. This was because he was right. To say that she hadn't wondered what that would feel like would have been a lie. To say she didn't want that- that she didn't want to learn, that she didn’t want that bed- to say she didn’t want those four walls to be her’s would have been a lie.

She wanted home. And maybe home was just a state of mind but she didnt know how to find her way back to the feeling. Her heart felt disconected- like the moment her sister had exhaled her last breath had cut some imendable cord.

The bigest lie.

She would have still been living underneath the nose of the tomb. But working to help the hybrid children and study them- seemed like something more noble. It seemed like something worth fighting for and doing every day.

Jack seemed to see her thoughts as he watched her- _what was it with these people and eye contact?_ both he and Sia had practically stared her down. That alone would have been enough to make the old her consider leaving.

It was the last thing Jack said to her as he turned and walked back the way she had came that really made her stop and stay on the bridge.

“Maybe it's time for you to focus less on surviving Holly- and more time living and doing something with your life” his back was disappearing, but his words seemed to echo and vertebrate around her. “It’s your choice, whether or not you want to keep running.”

It should have been easy- to keep walking forward to forget his words and the way that they had affected her. She should have been able to move her feet. She shouldn’t have been counting his steps as he walked away from her and she shouldn’t have wanted to follow him as much as she did.

she had thought thoes words to herself a hundred times. And wanted it even more.

Envy no longer stung her when she saw people- a gaggle of girls on their way to highschool, people laughing in the streets as they walked by monsters unaware, it had. She had always been running and always been a hunter in a sea of monsters, she had always thought that the two where exclusive. But what if they wherent?

Was it really worth it? Could she really throw her entire way of life away just because of one day? Things had almost always been this way- she had always been running from her past- from the tomb. And before that running away from starvation and towards her next meal. Could she really end that part of her life? Could she really trade in her life paranoia and constant movement for a life spent in stillness and safety?

Her old life hadn’t ended today- no, it had ended a year and a half ago- the day she was dragged away by the tomb- Reese probably thought she was dead, and so did the rest of her gang. For all she knew she was alone in the world.

She longed to be something else- someone else. Not just an ex-gang leader or an ex-con. She wanted to be someone who wasnt feared, someone who helped. And although she wasn’t quite sure if the pendulum foundation was the place where she could make that happen.

Maybe it was the right place to start.

Maybe she could change. Maybe life could be more than running. Maybe life could be living and not just surviving. Maybe there was a world, some version of reality, where Holly Homburg made a difference. Maybe that version was this one.

She turned around and ran. Slowing her pace until she fell into step behind him. He barely seemed to flinch- it was as if he had expected her to come back.

“One day can't hurt can it?” she said quietly. The rain was starting to let up and as he looked down to her. Tiny flecks of water had gathered in his hair, the droplets caught the light and made him look like he was flecked with stardust.

“I would say that same thing” he clapped her on the back lightly, the look on his face said all he couldn’t bear to let past his lips _I’m glad that you decided to stay_.

“Are you going back to the pendulum foundation?” Holly asked as they reached the end of the bridge

“No, probably not.” He sighed.

“Alright” she said, unsure if he wanted her to follow him or not. He turned to her and gave her a wry grin.

“Tell me Holly- do you like pancakes?”


	7. I'd hate to be a waitress in Manhattan

The grease fryer hummed and popped as the cook made pancakes for no one. And the waitress stood in her pink kitten heels with her elbows against the grubby counter as she popped her bubblegum and doodled aimlessly on her notepad.

Holly was hungry.

She had already been given her pancakes; strawberry with a less than healthy dose of whipped cream.

Holly didn't eat them.

The waitress cracked her bubblegum again and Holly jumped. the sharp noise pressing against her brain like a bee sting. Jack poured another glob of too sweet syrup onto his blueberry-peach pancakes and practically shoved a whole one into his mouth.

“Do you not like pancakes?”

“Nah it’s just-“ Holly cut herself off. Her eyes flicking to the cook then the waitress and then to the men sitting in the back, the only other patrons. “it’s been so long since I've been somewhere so…”

“Normal?”

“So human.” she exhaled feeling like she was letting something out of her lungs that had been sitting there and keeping her from taking a deep breath.

“what do you believe in?” he asked suddenly, sitting back in his chair.

“as in like religion?” he nodded. “I don’t believe in god, I believe we’re all going to die one day and the only reason why we do anything- walking, eating, loving, Is to try and extend our life spans, and that after that we don’t do much of anything.” Dropping his fork with a clatter and wiping his hands with a smile.

“God that's morbid!” he said delightedly.

“what do you believe?” she asked slowly, and only because she sensed that he wanted her too.

“I believe in the Buddhist theory or reincarnation” Holly snorted. “what I don’t strike you as the type?” he laughed, cracking a crooked smile that made Holly have to stuff her heart back into her toes again.

“To be honest- not at all.”

“I do it more for the humor of it all- it's one thing to imagine someone who you hate as a barnacle or as an ameba. But it's quite another thing to imagine them as their exact opposite”

“I don’t think that’s exactly Buddhism, more funny thou” Holly said,

“oh of course it isn’t!” he leaned in close to her and pointed at the two men in the back- “you see the one with the grey hair- he was a ballerina in his past life who was in love with the other - who was one of the tops critics in the city. She died when a giant penis statue fell on her head. after that the critic couldn’t find another muse and changed to reviewing zoos, he ended up dying when a rhino shitted on his face and made him suffocate”

by the end of his story- Holly was laughing too hard to contain herself. The man looked over at them. There was somehow funnier now that she saw his sagging face- his eyes bulging a little strangely from his head.

“Now that definitely isn’t how Buddhism works,” Holly said giggling. Jack looked up at her and smiled softly. Holly looked at him cautiously.

“What?”

“I like it when you smile-“ hollies eyes flickered behind them, a sudden movement- one of the men took off his hat- his head bulbous and irregular underneath- his hand shot out and then exploded.

“Jack watch out!” Holly cried. The waitress screamed and pressed her back against the fryer. Springing immediately to her feet, throwing the butter knife to cut the long green tentacle from its limb a second before it was about to descend upon Jack.

The two men at the end of the pancake house seemed to ungulate for a second and then in a weird giggling movement- the hydra demon shed its human skin revealing its true form.

One of its limbs lashed out at her wiping her across the face with its razor suckers before she crushed it and ripped it off of her, she could feel the smooth circles take bits of her skin with them.

Adrenaline was already filling her brain, clogging her usual rational thoughts.

When the next one came for her she was ready, She pushed a button on her staff and a thin knife as long as her for arm popped out of its end. She weaved a net of metal cutting one limb from other as they writhed, trying to get at her.

the other demon used its arms to propel itself over the counter at the waitress who screamed a bloodcurdling shriek. Jack bounded after it, pulling out some dark weapon that Holly had not seen or sensed on him before he vaulted over the counter and out of sight. blood thrummed in her ears.

She weaved in and out of its many limbs. She tried to remember the last time she had fought a hydra demon. Where its weak spots were and how to kill it. Then she was hit from behind. The demons limb wrapped around her legs pulling them out from under her. her staff was knocked out of her hands as she caught herself a small bone in her wrist protested then broke. She scrambled futilely against the floor but the linoleum already wet with sticky green demon ichor prevented her from anchoring herself. she was dragged towards the demon.

The limbs pulled her upwards into the demon's maw- a hole of teeth hidden under the heart of its limbs. She managed to keep her arm in between the tentacles and her throat to keep it from suffocating her she braced her legs against a row of inch wide teeth. The suckers clawed at her, shredding the top layers of her skin like a cat would have as it needed a chair.

“Ja-“ Holly began but one more tentacle bound her left arm. But he was already there severing the limbs and stabbing under the demon- into its mouth who recoiled violently and hit the wall with a large smacking sound. He wielded a pair of hand in a half swords. A fleeting thought passed through Holly's head about the inaccuracy of one handed blades. She didn’t have time to critique his weapon choice. She pulled herself to her feet and retrieved her staff from the floor.

Now that it was thoroughly coated in demon blood it was harder to hold onto and he had to grip it so tight that her knuckles turned white so that it didn’t slip from her grasp. Her skin ached and she felt woozy from adrenaline. The demons seemed to recede back. And then Holly and Jack watched with horror as each limb seemed to twitch before it sprouted 2 more limbs in its place.

“fuck “ Holly yelled before she threw herself into the fray again, jack joined her too, one of them spat more blood onto the floor, the large rent that jack had made when he pulled her out was not closing.

As she fought them more and more tentacles grew- soon there were so many that they obscured windows from view. Jack fought alongside her cutting through just as many tentacles as she did. suddenly she had a crazy idea.

her crazy ideas were usually what got her out of trouble.

“cover me,” she said as she kneeled down so that Jack could get around her. It only took her a second to flick her staff and rotate the center section switching it easily from sleep mode into taser.

she reached out and tapped one tentacle as it rushed forward, the edge of it seemed to twinge and was still for a moment, the hum electricity humming trying to complete the circuit but failing too. But then it twinged and came back to life. Holly cursed and continued to fight fearing the worst. But then she noticed that the more she fought and the more her staff stuck and electrocuted the demon the slower it got, eventually the limbs stopped sprouting into multiple limbs after they were cut. And then soon after they stopped to regrow all together.

Holly took care of the electrocuting and Jack took care of the cutting. They moved around each other as if they were one. predicting the move of the other as if they were one person, not two and weaving an intricate curtain of steel between themselves and the monsters. Holly ducked and Jack cut over hear head. The battle turned in their favor.

“there!” he said as he cut through a particularly large tentacle- probably one of the older ones. “underneath it!” Holly saw her opening and took it yelling at him to cover her.

Holly saw an opening that she had been waiting for and took a running and slide onto her knees ducking beneath the tentacles which failed to catch her. the cool demon blood soaked through to her knees. The pale eye of the demon was green with little greener veins, the whole eye shun with moisture- a perfect conductor.

Holly reached up with her staff and touched it ever so slightly sending the entire being twitching historically. It writhed and then went still Holly hurled the thing to the side of her narrowly avoiding getting crushed by the demon's corpse.

Holly stood up- and was met almost instantaneously with cold black eyes, “duck!” Jack yelled at her from behind the dark thing, something that she hadn’t been able to see clearly because of how close it was to her, she hit the floor as a river of flames poured over her roasting the one remaining demon which screeched as the other one had as it turned slowly into ashes. Holly felt the warm close to her face and smelled burning hair. she hoped it wasn’t hers. she would kill jack next if it was her's

When the river of fire stopped she pushed herself up. She was soaked with demon blood but she found it hard to care as she stared into the eyes of something sentient- something black and large and clawed and scaled. Holly's breath came out uneven and stunted her fingers tightening around her staff the absence of adrenaline making her knees shake and making her feel faint at the thought of fighting something else.

but Jack walked around to her and placed his hand on the dragon's head the beast seemed to close its eyes slowly and then scale disassembled from scale- Holly watched in awe as the pieces seemed to melt into Jack until nothing was there.

"you're a magician" she said breathlessly.

"no," jack said shaking his head "I'm a skilled like you"

"I'm not-"

"Not here," gesturing to the building, which was burning. However awesome the dragon fire had been, it had set the building on fire. It seemed to have started from two places

Holly’s thoughts traveled to the cook and the waitress.

she started to go back to check behind the counter Jack grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. She decided that she didn’t need to see what they had failed to do and took his word for it. Jack dragged Holly out of the door choking on fumes of burning wallpaper. It was only until they were in the parking lot that they stopped.

Holly leaned over her knees to wretch onto the earth. some of the demon blood had gotten into her mouth and it tasted sour like garbage. it was only when she looked up that she noticed the large red stain on the front of Jack's shirt.

“you're bleeding,” she said,

he shook his head and coughed out a “not anymore” lifting up his shirt to reveal the tattoo there- the dragon one, the exact same dragon that had roasted the demon. he teetered for a moment and Holly steadied him.

“you can control your tattoos?” she asked and he nodded.

"I guess "show me yours if I show you mine" doesn't apply to powers"

Holly laughed once. "I told you i'm not a skilled"

"bullshit" he laughed and then coughed as she helped him around the corner.

holly thought that if she wasn’t coughing so bad and if she wasn’t so dead tired she would have made a comment on just how cool that actually was. She could hear the beginning of fire sirens and she could see some people exiting a nearby building.

“not without losing a fair amount of blood, though,” he said, getting a far away look in his eyes as he started to teeter again. "I think I should sit down" and started to sit down.

“oh no you don’t” she said, catching him under his arms before he fell, “we can’t stay here”. Jack didn't seem to hear her.

She had never met a skilled who could control their tattoos, and although most skills were one of a kind- most of them had like characteristics. It was rare to meet one who was not in some way like the other.

She had never met anyone like jack.

The building crackled and the roof began to cave in. someone drew back a curtain building in an apartment across the street as a light flickered on. A pedestrian was across the street talking animatedly with the police. “don’t worry that tomb will be here soon,” he said as he seemed to shake the dizziness off of him.

“and that’s exactly why we need to get out of here” he sighed. "can you run?" she asked and he nodded holding out his hand to her. they started to run, she stumbled and Jack grabbed her hand again, holding it tighter so that it was hard to tell who's skin was who's.

Their feet pounded against the concrete offbeat and slower than they should have been. Red and blue lights flew past them as they rounded a corner into an alleyway. pressing into the narrow crevasse so as to not be seen. then they kept going.

Holly could feel the smoke and heat of the fire on the air long after it had gone out of sight. He did not let go of her hand until the lights and sounds of the building being consumed by the fire were long out of sight.


	8. INTEREM 2: TEVA

_Past_

The first day 13-1X was allowed in the cafeteria something strange happened. She sat at a table and ate food- little sweet red things with small yellow seeds and 3 other children joined her.

the little boy who rocked back and forth had black eyes with no color bits- not even white. It wasn't uncommon as she looked around. The tall girl had ones the same color and shape as the little yellow seeds, the third one, a boy had brown eyes. 13-1x didn't know what to compare it too.

The small red things on her plate where so sweet. She asked the tall girl what they were and the girl smiled and replied. “strawberries” they laughed and laughed. 13-1X did not realize the girl's eyes as they flickered back and forth from guard to observing doctor to guard and back again.

The tall blond haired boy, with murky eyes put his arm around the girl and told her not too worry. 13-1X wished she had someone to do that too. When lunch was over 13-1X asked the girl what her number was.

“My name is Teva” she said, flicking her short black hair behind her shoulder in a lazy almost practiced gesture. She nodded at the other boys. 13-1X told teva-bowen smith her name.

“That's not your real name” she said, vehemently, “ the name they gave you isn't your real name” 13-1X asked her what the blond boy and black eyes boy’s names where.

“That's edison and his older brother Alaric” 13-1X could see the way that she looked at Alaric and wished once again that she had someone she could look that way at.

_Subject: 13-1X_

_Age: 6_

_Gender: Female_

_Journal entry no: 4 integration of 13-1x is going perfectly! thought her choice of companionship is troublesome. The failed experiments of subject 55x, 132a, and 67n. the other scientists are curious to see how she will take the death of 67n. who’s full degeneration is expected to occur later this year._


	9. Balancing Acts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> god the ending of this chapter is so stereotypical

The knock on her door the next morning seemed very very loud. holly groaned and turned over. “what the _hell_ is it?” she was only in her underwear- having discarded her ruined clothes from last night in the trash. She sighed and pulled the covers up to her neck and said a bit louder, “come in”. Sai was dressed in comfortable looking pants and an orange shirt. In her sleepy state She felt like she should tell him that orange and red hair didn’t necessarily go together, but sia didn't seem like the type of person who cared about fashion.

Her body was sore in a way that could only mean 2 things: sex or a very good fight.

“Good, you’re awake” he set a cellophane wrapped muffin on her nightstand. “you missed breakfast,” Holly looked at him for a moment, bewildered. “remember? Training day”

“Oh shit” She said getting out of bed. thoughts of her nakedness discarded “give me a few seconds to get ready” Sai's face went beat red and he quickly looked away from her. “what is it?”

“I- ugh- cloths?”

“what?” Jack walked by, he paused in her doorway- he had been whistling softly but he stopped abruptly when he saw her. Whereas sia had looked away quickly. Jack paused, and then laughed

“damn Holly I didn’t reali-” one of her sweaters hit him squarely in the face.

“oh shut up, stop objectifying me- sexist pig isn't a good look for you, and get Sai out of here while you can- he looks like he’s about to combust.” Jack laughed and ushered sai out of the room closing the door behind him. “we’ll wait for you” he called, still laughing.

It took hot water and a bar of clean fresh minty soap that made Holly's nose tingle pleasantly to wash away the embarrassment. This was new to her. Her own body had never bothered her in this way, and it didn't bother her that sia and Jack had seen- it only bothers her that she hadn’t realized they would care.

Nakedness wasn't something you could avoid on the street- you could try and shield your eyes when a werewolf suddenly shifted back or try and cover yourself up when your top got torn to shreds during a fight- but it used to happen to her so often that it was normal.

Bodies where lithe things- and her nakedness wasn't the most intimate thing that could be given- so she felt no need to behave as though it was.

maybe if she had been more beautiful she it would bother her more. freckles dotted her skin like little amber colored stars- it made her skin mottled and patchy. but her body was apart of her She knew she wasn't pretty- her body was a tapestry of past pains and barely working parts. Her scars a story of mistakes made and feet misplaced on razor wire fences.

Had there ever been a time when she didn't have scars?

She couldn't let herself remember.

By the time she got done with the shower, pulled her tangled hair back into a high ponytail and put on her favorite sweats and a black tanktop Jack was the only one waiting outside.

“Sai already went down?” He nodded. He leaned against her door while she strapped on her old simple black shoes- shoes that she had used for free running in a lon lost life. She stood.

he was looking at her- the way that Jack looked- piercing and straight into her soul. “so which way do we-” holly started to say then trailed off as He reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes. the motion so strangely personal. Holly watched Jack's eyes went wide.

“Holly?” he asked slowly. “what happened to the cuts on the side of your face?” her fingers found her cheek. “they’re gone.” her stomach fell into her toes.

Of course her wounds had healed already. just as his had. Too the others- wounds would be an indication that something had happened last night- and it was for that reason that she was glad they had long since healed. But too Jack the lack of them meant so much more.

A quickly healing body was one of the many benefits of being…well…other.

Jack couldn't know that- he was supposed to believe she was human- or at least completely human- but now the cat was out of the bag.

How could she have been so stupid.

He was on the floor of her room before he could make so much as a brief noise of surprise. Her door was locked and her staff – free of its holster on her ankle, was fully extended pinning him to the ground by his neck. Her foot was a second from a very painful kick to his groin. Her knife one brief swipe away from silencing him forever.

“tell anyone and you die, say anything before i'm gone and i will beat you too a pulp. Tell anyone after i’m gone and i will hunt you down and free your guts from your stomach. i don't want too, but i will”

“Jesus” he choked his eyes fastened on her. she released some of the pressure of her staff, aware that she was still crushing his windpipe. “do you keep that thing everywhere!?”

“yes” she said nudging his jugular “but don’t change the subject”

“I want to know” both of their heads snapped to the door. Footsteps. She pushed against his throat harder until they passed.

“you want to know what” she hissed. Conscious of the fact that there were ears everywhere.

“I want to know what you are”

“Why should i trust you” she asked, she didn't find anything In his chiseled face that would make her want of disbelief. But her instincts told her not to trust anyone but herself. _How lonely_ a little voice in her head reminded her- her hands tightened on her staff.

“I saved your life last night- and you saved mine”

“what are you talking about”

“if I had gone too that pancake house alone, if you hadn't come with me- then those demons would have killed me- no doubt about it” his silver eyes were unwavering, and they sucked her in. “and if I had let you go without saying anything they you would end up dead within 6 months”

she scoffed, “hardly” “

it's true and you know it” he said.

She knew- she felt it in her bones, oh god, did she know that she would never be safe,- but she couldn't fathom how he knew it too.

“I promise not to tell anyone what you are” he continued, making the moves to sit up, “not that i even really know because you haven't told me- now will you let me up?”

 _she trusted him with her life but could she trust him with this?_ she thought carefully and then after a pregnant second, she flicked her staff off of him and let him rise. she did not offer him her hand. her staff was at his throat when he stood.

“know that if you tell anyone I can be gone before your body drops too the floor”

“yes al pacino” he said, brushing the dust off of his black shirt, he frowned.“can we go now!” he asked aggravated. “where so fucking late, dodge is going to have a stroke”

he shook his head, watching her as her staff snapped up into its shorter form, she rolled up the leg of her pants. “where did you get that contraption?”

“it was my sister’s”

“I didn’t know you had a sister” Holly snorted as she closed her door behind her.

“I barely know you Jack, of course you didn't know I had a sister- you could be the prince of russia for all I know” the operative word being had in that sentence. he didn’t know anything about her and she guessed that she didn’t know anything about him either.

Jack blanched and muttered something that sounded like “close geuss” under his breath, and then continued:

“is your sister’s place where you were going too last night-“

“she’s dead” Holly said curtly, not wanting to talk further on the subject. Her body suddenly heavy and tired- which was proportional to the excitement of the mourning and the previous evening.

“I’m sorry- I shouldn't have asked”

“No more than I am im sure” she said sarcastically.

Discussing both her secrets- her lack of humanity, and her sister’s death. Two things inexorably connected- Was one way to get her pissed off. She hated talking about things that made her cry.

Teva bowen smith had known the risks in Becoming Holly’s surrogate sister. But Holly had not-not until it had been too late. Holly shoved the choking guilt down.

With every step anxiety filled her gut. Training day- a spectacle sure to be full of tests and ones that she didn't know if she could fake. Being bad was one thing she wasn't worried about- but being believable was a separate struggle entirely. _Human_ \- she reminded herself- _I am supposed to be human_.

She also had no desire to figure out if she could trust Jack. for all she knew he could blurt it out the second they walked into the training room. Maybe she should just knock him out now and sneak out a window. she thought as she watched the back of his head.

His hair curled up at the nape of it and she thought of what his hair must feel like- was it as soft as it looked. She shook her head- she shouldn't have been thinking about him in that way. She should have ran when she had had the chance. but then again Jack had let her go once, she remembered his words said into the darkness, _“go, i’m not gonna stop you.”_ but was that still true? Did that promise rest upon the condition of humanity?

The training room was wide and tall- multiple stories. A set of blue crash mats was pushed against one side of the room and far above their heads wooden rafters gleamed with a combination of steel gear, wooden poles, harnesses, and multicolored rope. A rock climbing wall- a real one with actual fissures and cracks dominated one side of the room. she smelled rock- the dust that came off of it when they were broken, she wondered if they changed the fixture often- a powerful telekinetic could do it- or a skilled with an affinity for stone. 

The only source of light in the room was the far window lattice- branches seemingly carved from stone that curled around clear glass. she could see out into a courtyard- the same one that her room opened up onto only scene from the other side. The branched window cast shadows onto the pale wooden floor and across all of the waiting faces that had turned to them.

Holly hadn't realized quite how many students the pendulum foundation had; which was about 50 or so. they varied in age from children too a few years older than holly. She hadn't expected there to be a variety of faces either- in an organization so closely aligned with the tombs ideals- she had thought they would mostly be pure breeds.

But here was the familiar face of a warlock with bright red skin and the horns who glared at her and crossed their arms. A skilled-shifter mix sat with his back too her and he shimmered and shifted, his shirt reforming into treebark, into concrete and then into a swirling galaxy with dizzying rapidity of someone who hadn’t yet learned how to control their powers.

Their was a girl in a purple crop top with light green skin and long pin straight silver hair who looked like she was about to murder someone. her green honeycombed eyes- like a flies but slightly more humanoid narrowed. She glared at Holly showing off her pointed teeth. There was an elf boy, and a few other blond haired half human- half fey boys and girls- their skin all varying shades of green and grey. Another woman who looked normal except for her hands- which were as clawed as a cats.

There were no demon human hybrids though, which was expected.

There were Several normal looking students, who looked bored, and who must have been seraphim or skilled. Holly saw One of them, a boy just shy of 11 or 12, make little dervishes with a wave of his hands. he amused himself by throwing them at the girl in front of him- who was far younger, her hair ruffled and fell forward into her face. Hands barely catching her “stop that” Holly heard her growl.

If he could already do so much now- he would be formidable when he was older.

At the head of the room was dodge- dressed in sweatpants and a disarmingly normal white t shirt. he was looking at Holly churlishly.

“How nice of you to join us” Dodge said smirking. Jack grinned sheepishly and walked to join him at the front. Holly watched him go uneasily towards the man. then Holly remembered dodge saying that Jack was his second in command.

The anxiety of little words filling her head. it would take only three words from Jack before she was in deep shit. she could imagine his smooth voice as they wrapped around them, _“she's not human.”_ she had to believe that she could trust him she had to believe that he wouldn't tell. She lowered herself quietly next to sia in the back, briefly thankful that dodge didn't make her introduce herself.

“who would like to go first?” Dodge asked as Jack- who did not sit, instead went through a small door and produced a metal hopper full of climbing gear. He fiddled with the ropes while dodge glared impassively at the students. None of them met his gaze.

The small girl- the one who had been teased- raised her hand.

“Why did I even ask!” Dodge said exasperated- but in a kind way. He smiled lightly as the girl stood up and turned to face the crowed. She was young with tangled black hair that was streaked with a single strand of light purple hair- that looked like it needed to be re-dyed. she had a pair of steampunk looking goggles on top of her head and wore a grey t shirt and a pair of acid stained cargo pants- but by far the most surprising thing was her eyes. they cloudy like milk but undeniably a light blue. She was blind. Jack strapped her into a harness and smiled at the little girl tenderly.

“Good luck kid” Holly heard him mutter to her before he stepped back.

“Ready” Dodge took out a stopwatch. Holly wondered what they were doing. Letting a little blind girl possibly hurt herself. She understood the concept of the harness and judging by the way that Jack was holding the ropes he obviously had done this many times, but it was still too dangerous she thought- for a blind girl to climb up an escarpment like that.

“Set” the girl ran her fingers over the rocks, face raised towards a red buzzer at the top.

“Go” Dodge said clicking his timer. The girl scuttled up the wall with an agility that Holly hadn't been expecting. She seemed to know exactly where to put her feet and exactly how to position her arms to offer her the most leverage. It was not long before she reached the top. Next to Jack a red light buzzed. Dodge clicked the stop watched.

“Not bad gurdy” he said. Holly recognized the name from Sai’s tour, but couldn’t remember what else he had said about the girl.

“Did I beat my time?” she asked as Jack lowered her to the ground. Dodge shook his head and then seemed to catch himself.

“No, sorry kid- 32.3 seconds”

“you're telling me I didn’t beat my time by .6 OF A FUCKING SECOND, that’s bullshit” she said.

“Language” Jack and Dodge said at the same time. They stared at each other ruefully some of the students laughed.

“yeah yeah” she said as jack finally detangled her from the climbing gear. Holly hadn’t known what she had been expecting but she was sure that it definitely wasn’t that. then it hit her- the angular look of her face- the familiar eyes.

“She’s Jack's younger sister isn't she?” holly whispered to sia,

“What gave it away” sia grinned. “Their startlingly similar personalities”

Holly snorted. Just as dodge asked who would like to go next. a sentence that was followed by “alright then Newbie since you are having so much fun back there, you're up next” Dodge pointed at Holly. She got up. Sensing everyone's eyes on her.

“be careful not to drop her on her fat ass Jack, you might break the floorboards” said the fey girl in the purple tank top. The group of blond and silver haired fey boys giggled, their green skin reddening. Holly saw one of them touch the girls back. Holly's temper flared.

“if you're so confident that she will why don’t you go after her chickorie” said Dodge. Jack made movements to strap her in, and she stopped him, taking the harness out of her hands and strapping herself in.

“Ignore them” Jack said to her quietly as she gripped on of the rocks. Her eyes flickered to his for a moment, she wasn’t going to ignore them- she was going to make them eat their words. No matter her farce- she was confident that a normal human could have completed this test faster than the fey- if and only if they were extremely fit. and she was- the layers of corded muscle that were underneath her skin seemed to ache with anticipation.

then Dodge said “go” and Holly didn’t think she only moved. she clung to the wall as hard as she could, using momentum of her first jump and every one of her muscles to propel herself upwards. To those down on the ground she barely seemed to touch the wall.

Below Jack pulled at the ropes keeping up with her as best he could but the rope was constantly slack. Her hand reached the top of the wall and the buzzer sounded. Holly waited for a moment before she glanced down at Jack, he nodded, and she pushed off. He lowered her down. Her back still facing the crowed. The wood felt slippery underneath her toes compared to the rock.

“what was my time?” she asked as she adjusted the belt loops and tried to squirm out of the harness. Dodge turned towards gurdy.

“lets just say it was fast alright” he pulled her in closer, “10 meters in 29.6 seconds” he motioned for chickorie, who was now standing, Holly realized she was far shorter than her. she looked significantly less confident now, her pale pink lips had tapered off into a sneer. Holly tossed her the harness and she caught it with both hands, Holly passed her wordlessly, then thought better of her silence and turned back- her vapidity taking hold.

“oh and Jack- be careful not to let her fall- god knows those arms of hers won’t hold her up” no one laughed. they were still looking at her with trepidation. but chickories eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth- baring her fangs in a soundless snarl as they passed each other. Jack had to help her into the harness. And Holly felt mildly pleased both at her performance and self sufficiency as she sat down next to Sai. Dodge stopped chickorie.

“remember no wings or magic” chickorie scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“sure it's not like I wouldn’t have those in any other situation”

“I've never seen a human who could move that fast” he said in amazement. Offering her his fist. She bumped it with her own.

“Thanks.” After they watched chickorie struggle to make it up the wall Dodge pointed at another kid and then the next and then the next. By the end of it Chickorie didn’t take the longest. But Holly's time was by far the best.

Dodge called them all to stand. And they walked over to a small black board, he flipped it over and began creating a complicated web- a bracket holly realized. “you know the drill, move up the bracket- record your names- at the end we'll see how everyone ranks this time” At the side he put a list- ranking 1-50. No slot yet for her- just until he saw how well she did. She briefly recalled sia mentioning that she wouldn't be ranked officially till next training day. Jack was already at the top. It didn't really surprise her that he was the best- thought sia wasn't far off. He started to read off names. “-tezro and daphne, gurdy and Jay, Sai and Serol, Jack with Kadir and Lexos”

Sai frowned and walked off too stand next to an unpleasant looking boy who had slicked back blond hair a sharp nose and pointed ears, he glared at Holly when he saw her looking, but then as he turned away- Holly thought that might have just been the way his face looked- permanently drawn into a sneer.

Dodge walked up to Holly, “you're with me” she nodded curtly. he turned back to the group- who had all drawn off into their pairs- some of them were standing farther apart than others.

“Alright” he said- “The usual, no maiming, no foul moves, no bone-breaking, no destroying the building, no fire” he looked at Sai who shrugged sheepishly. “and most importantly no powers whatsoever, if they concede, let them.” Dodge turned to Holly.

As the others sectioned themselves off into different parts of the training room The sound of skin smacking against skin, groans and thumps as wind was knocked out of lungs filled the room. Holly looked and found Jack, fighting a pair of humongous twins. He bobbed and weaved as they came at him. He moved like a wraith. A small smile on his face as he avoided every heavy blows with ease.

“Hand to hand combat?” she asked raising her eyebrows at Dodge when he came closer to her.

“yes, take how ever much time you need to ready yourself” Holly decided against shoes, the floor of the training room pleasantly warm underneath her feet as she popped off her sneakers and socks.

This fight would be tricky. There was a fine line between capable and inhuman. She would have to take great care not to be baited into using her real level of strength. She wondered then if Dodge suspected anything- if he thought that she wasn’t human.

Getting found out would mean getting sent back to prison- her sentence changing and possibly conscription, if and only if they found out what she was.

“ready?” he asked, and she nodded. widening her stance and bent her knees holly Waited for him to strike. He did the same. he moved and she mirrored him they circled each other. Holly begun to realize that all those who surrounded them had stopped fighting and were looking at Holly with beaded eyes, waiting to see what she did next.

Her eyes flickered to see Jack stop, and that was when Dodge struck, rocketing forward in an attempt to hit her in the stomach. Holly darted backwards avoiding his punch by less than an inch. The man was disproportionately agile for his age and size. But Holly was just a tiny bit faster.

As he swung at her with a haymaker she saw saw her chance and, useing her infeior height to her advantage ducked underneath his arm and jabbed at his kidney before disengagement. They rejoined the circle and orbited the center. Holly panted.

“you’re pretty good, though you could stand to be a little more offensive,” he said, Holly laughed adrenaline slowly seeping into her system, it made her ears buzz.

“wouldn’t you want that? Im guessing your defense is better than your offense; well I’ll let you know, mine isn’t.” Holly feigned to the left and she watched as Dodge took the bait, the kick landed on his side and made the bones in her feet crunch painfully. the crowd that surrounded them gasped collectively.

Dodge smiled a wicked smile. And cracked his neck. He came at Holly faster than he had before. She was surprised how much he had been holding back, foolishly she tried the same move that had granted her her first hit only going for his neck instead, he expected it and caught her wrist spinning her around to kick her in the stomach, it hit her so hard that the kick should have been strong enough to break her ribs but surprisingly it didn’t. It was at that moment when she was still airborne that she realized that he was hitting her in right way- the way that wouldn't cause damage to her organs or her bones.

she fell on her side and with a bang her head hit the floor. She tried to get up but only got to her knees before the room started to spin. Her stomach clenched, she rested her hands on the ground and she leaned away from the crowed vomiting onto the floor. Sia’s face was thin when she looked up, and his voice terse and worried as he said “i think you might have hit her head too hard” it was the last thing she saw before it all went black.


End file.
